The Latest: Expert says prison escapes rare, take planning
Jun 7, 2015, 6:01 PM
6:30 p.m. EDT
Former New York City Corrections Commissioner Martin Horn says prison escapes like the one Saturday of two convicted murderers from a maximum security prison near the Canadian border are not an easy feat and “relatively rare.” Horn says that suggests “a great deal of planning” went into the escape this weekend.
In 2003, two convicted murderers escaped from a different maximum-security prison in New York, and were caught the next day. Investigators concluded the two inmates in that escape 12 years ago spent a month chiseling a hole through the concrete ceiling of their cell with a sledgehammer head and other shop tools. In the 2003 escape, the inmates made dummies with papier mache heads sporting their own clipped hair, which they left in their bunks the night they escaped.
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3:15 p.m. EDT
New York state is offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the capture of two convicted murderers who broke out a maximum-security prison.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Sunday the unusual step is “appropriate” for the situation.
In a conference call with reporters, Cuomo detailed the lengths Richard Matt and David Sweat went to in their escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border.
He says the men cut through a steel plate, broke through a brick wall, had to shimmy through a steam pipe and cut through a steel lock and chain to open up a manhole cover.
Cuomo says it would have taken days to do what they did.
Authorities say the men could be anywhere in the state, or left it altogether.
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1:45 p.m. EDT
An employee at a Dunkin’ Donuts across the street from an upstate New York prison where two convicted murders made a daring escape says the situation has been “nerve-wracking.”
Beth Nichols says one employee even had a panic attack after being told about Saturday’s prisoner breakout. The employee lives walking distance away on the same road, but authorities would not immediately allow her to enter her home. Her mother picked her up instead.
Convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility. Authorities say they used power tools to cut into steam pipes and shimmy to freedom.
Nichols says two correction officers came to the shop carrying photo IDs of the escaped prisoners and said they were dangerous and shouldn’t be approached if seen.
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10:15 a.m. EDT
The brother of a man killed by one of two murderers who escaped from a maximum-security prison says the prison break has turned his world “upside-down all over again.”
Steven Tarsia tells The Associated Press he couldn’t believe it when he found out David Sweat and fellow inmate Richard Matt broke out of an upstate New York prison.
Sweat was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Tarsia in 2002.
The inmates used power tools to cut their way to freedom and emerge from a manhole cover blocks from the prison. They were reported missing from their beds at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
Authorities are investigating how they could have gotten the tools.
Steven Tarsia says he thinks they must have had help, but can’t imagine why anyone would have helped them.
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8:15 a.m. EDT
New York’s governor says two convicted murderers “had to be heard” as they cut through steel and escaped from a maximum-security prison.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in “a really elaborate, sophisticated operation” that involved shimmying through a steam pipe.
The men were reported missing from their beds at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
Roadblocks were set up in the area of the prison, about 20 miles from the Canadian border. Bloodhounds and helicopters were being used to track down the men.
Cuomo said officials were reaching out to the families of the men’s victims.
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1:45 a.m. EDT
Hundreds of law enforcement officers have spent the night searching for two convicted murderers who escaped a maximum-security New York state prison.
Officials say Sunday officers from local, state and federal agencies are seeking 48-year-old Richard Matt and 34-year-old David Sweat.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the duo used power tools to cut through steel pipes at the Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border.
They were discovered missing at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
Cuomo says their escape was the result of “an elaborate plot.”
Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy in 2002. Matt was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for the kidnapping, dismemberment and murder of his former boss in 1997.
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